Meeting People Where They Are

For most people who set out to embrace the idea of our coaching business, two things come up early on: First, you have to evaluate your own lifestyle and decide to what level you are committing yourself to improving it physically, financially, spiritually, personally, and with your relationships; second, you have to decide how you’re going to build your business. It’s interesting to me to see which of these two opportunities people embrace first, and to what extent they stay focused on them. As we promised last week, in the next two articles we’re going to focus on the business building opportunity we all have…and it starts with meeting people where they are.

Most every Beachbody© coach completes the 7 lessons in the Coach Training Academy, and then starts listening to what other successful coaches are doing. While that’s not a bad idea, it can cause some confusion. Should you start a challenge group, or launch a FaceBook page? Should you start a local FitClub, or host a Shake and Share party? Should you focus on getting success club points, or wear a Shakeology© t-shirt everywhere you go? Do you need a custom website, or should you order business cards?...I think you get our point! Everyone agrees that you need to focus, but the question is on what?

Here’s our answer: focus on mastering the skill of networking with people. Because if you practice, focus, and truly become a master at networking with people…everything else you want to achieve will happen. It’s a fact. So how do you become a "master networker"? You meet people where they are.

Meeting people where they are means you have NO agenda when you interact with people except to learn more and be of service to them. Whether it’s a long-time friend or a stranger in line, if you keep your mindset on creating conversation where the intention is to learn more and be of service, you will never sound like, act like, or feel like you’re selling something, because you’re not.

Meeting people where they are is about letting them tell you what matters to them in their life right now. So you have to ask questions and really listen- no agenda, just sincere caring. This doesn’t happen with every person, but often times what you hear is one of two things: (1) I need to take better care of my health, or (2) I need to change the quality of my life. That’s when you have an opportunity to serve them with an invitation:

“I’m hearing you tell me that you really want to start taking care of yourself. I don’t know if this is what you’re looking for, but I’ve been putting groups of people together who support each other to make the kind of changes you’re talking about; would you like me to send you a link to check it out?”
“So many people are feeling the way you are right now, wanting to have more (time, money, energy) in their life. I don’t know if this is a fit for you, but would you be open to (checking out a website, or reading 4 chapters in a book) that really helped me take charge of owning my life?”

Become a master networker by meeting people where they are and what you’ll discover is that it’s fun to start conversations and it’s rewarding to offer possible solutions to what really matters to them.

Soup Scoop: Lentil with Turnip & Parsley

Be Your Best! Heat 2 tbsp of olive oil over medium heat in a pot. Add 1 diced yellow onion, 4 minced garlic cloves, and 3 finely diced celery stalks. Cook for 6 to 8 minutes or until tender. Increase heat to high and add 1 1/2 cups dried red lentils, 1 peeled and diced turnip, and 6 cups of water. Bring this to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until lentils are tender, 20-25 minutes. Stir in 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley and lightly season with salt and pepper. (177 cal, 4g fat, 11g protein, 6g fiber)

Is Your Teen Learning the Right Healthy Habits?

Although there has been a large concern about the rising rate of childhood obesity in America, there's been relatively little focus on how parents influence their kids' exercising habits. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta recently conducted a study that looked at the relationships between parents, children, and exercise. Researcher Sarah L. Lee, PhD, stated "We looked at all sorts of things that might affect activity levels of parents and kids, including cultural, environmental, psychosocial, and demographic factors.We tried to pinpoint how all of these affected 'co-physical activity,' which is the term for parents being active with their children." On a positive note, Dr. Lee and her colleagues found that 78% of the parent-child pairings reported being active together at least once a week, however 22% of the pairings reported no shared physical activity whatsoever. It is that 22% which is alarming and cause for concern. Here are some tips Dr. Lee offers to parents to help increase activity time with their child:

Be informed about physical activity. "Know how much is enough: The current recommendation for kids aged 6 to 17 is 60 minutes of activity every day."
Understand that every little bit counts. "That 60 minutes might seem like a lot," says Lee, "but it can be accumulated throughout the day. So look for opportunities wherever you are, whether it's at home, at the mall, anywhere."
Try to hang out more. "Make a point of having more family meals together. Think of activities to do, even if just for a few minutes."
Establish habits early on. "One thing we found was that co-physical activity time went down as child age went up" says Lee. "The 9-year-olds were significantly more likely to spend more time being active with their parents than the 13-year-olds. At the younger age, kids are more likely to want to hang out with you, she says. So take advantage of that and get them in the habit of exercising for fun."
Seek out supervised activity in your neighborhood. "If you're worried about safety, consider school or club sports teams for your child. Or see what sports or activities are on offer at the local Y or community center, where there's adult supervision"

TeamGenesis Builders Group

Last week we focused on setting yourself up to be more productive in your business. We reviewed a basic checklist of things you want to have in place, so you can focus more on people, and less on activity that doesn’t produce results. If you haven’t had a chance to do that work yet, click here to view that checklist.

This week we focus on goals and will introduce an exercise that helps you identify what you really want and how you can overcome any obstacle that might get in your way.

TeamGenesis Leaders Groups

Last week we talked about specific activities that you can do as a leader to cause growth, and more specifically what each of us is doing to help our PS coaches become good teachers. This week we will review a teachable system for your team. KEEP IN MIND, a core intention for this call is that it is interactive with the participating leaders. It’s not a, we talk…you listen, call. So come prepared to ask questions, share, and challenge ideas being discussed. That’s what makes this group special and will ultimately make this call valuable for everyone.

We all left last week’s call wanting to clearly identify what/if we are teaching our coaches to teach their coaches. It’s a powerful topic and can cause exciting growth once we implement a clear system for developing depth in our teams.