I got probably the best compliment of my life the other day …

It was from a Super-Trainer reader who had just read The Whistleblower Report. He said it’s the most influential thing he’s ever read, just behind THINK AND GROW RICH by Napolean Hill.

Haha! Do you believe that? It’s true I poured my heart into that report, but putting it in the same league as the greatest success book of all time? That was high praise to say the least!

It also caused me to dig up my copy and give it another read. Among the many absolute gems of wisdom contained in those pages was a message I found especially relevant to us as Personal Trainers. Napoleon Hill pointed out how some of the greatest success stories of all time are built on the sale of Personal Services – here’s how he put it:

“It should be encouraging to know that practically all great fortunes began in the form of compensation for personal services, or from the sale of ideas. What else, except ideas and personal services, would one not possessed of property have to give in return for riches?”

Powerful huh? Notice he said practically all. And that make sense, because no matter who you are or where you are, your own personal service is a way you can immediately pump value into the world around you and earn money for it. You don’t need any raw materials, stock, or inventory when you begin; it’s just you. You could be sitting in a basement somewhere without a college degree, work experience, or money, and be able to immediately earn money for your thoughts and services alone.

This highlights how the value of a training session is largely an intangible thing. Personal trainers charge anywhere from $20 to $1,000 a session, but there’s never a physical product they sell, unlike a $5,000 Hyundai and a $350,000 Maybach, which have many obvious physical differences between them (although the Maybach’s price is still largely psychic value).

It all comes down to how you sell it, which Napoleon Hill goes on to talk about in detail in that chapter. He talks about presenting your services in the most positive light to make sure you get the maximum return (money) for them. That’s known as marketing. He goes into detail that this element is more important than the services or ideas themselves.

For us as trainers, this plays out in the ways you bring value to your sessions and communicate this value to others through your marketing.

– It’s not what you know, but how you communicate what you know to your potential customers.

– And it’s not the results, but the quality of the training experience that your clients enjoys.

It also stands out how the most exhaustively researched success book of all time points out the fact that you can get started in a high earning career without jumping through the hoops most think are mandatory. This flys in the face of conventional social conditioning. Most people, and even most trainers, give importance to only the technical aspects of training. These are usually the people having the hardest time earning suitable money for their effort, and not having any fun doing it!

It’s true technical skill is important, but Hill points out how technical knowledge is the cheapest to purchase in our society. It’s the ability to bring it together into something more valuable that improves the lives of people that you get paid for.

Those are just among the many amazing points made in the book. We could talk all day about the valuable info in it, but that’ s a little outside of the bounds of this blog. This blog’s about becoming a six-figure trainer, personal growth, time-leverage, and living a fun and dynamic life; Think and Grow Rich deals with stories of huge fortunes and people like Andrew Carnegie. Sure we’d all love to get there some day, but let’s get the basics handled first.

It was originally published in 1937 so it’s a little dated, but it still reads WORLDS better than anything else in the genre. Sure he recommends some weird stuff in there, like how he used to talk to famous dead people like Abraham Lincoln and Napolean every night. I’m not really too much into imaginary friends, but everything else in the book was very powerful.

I also own the audio-book version, which I find is easier to get through and more impactful, with the narrator kind of lecturing the important points to you and making sure you get them. You can find it unabridged and dirt cheap right here.

When I first read it years ago, I was lost and without a plan, and the book wasn’t to useful for me. When I read it now it’s extremely motivating and mind-expanding. I guess that’s why it goes so well with The Whistelblower Report, because if you do have something you’re passionate about and focused on, this book is like gasoline to a fire.

Yeah I know, recommending a 70 year old book isn’t typically what you’re looking for when searching blogs for useful info – I promise to have something more cutting edge for you next time!

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