That time I was pressured into transferring my coach £10,000

You may have read the title of this post and then the subheading and thought,

"What does working with a personal trainer and Nathan transferring his coach money have anything in common?"

Well, let me tell you.

In the image above is my old business coach, Mr Oliver Tennant.

Oli changed my life and helped me to change the lives of so many of my clients.

He is truly a top notch business coach.

I started working with Oli in order to take my business and life to the next level.

It all started with an intensive 8-week online course.

Oli would lead these weekly zoom calls with myself and tens of other personal trainers from around the country as his audience.

In these calls he'd go over all of the basics of running your business; making sure to have a service agreement in place so you can have security in your business, what it means to be a personal trianer, etc.

From the get go you could tell Oli was a no bullsh*t kind of person.

In fact, on weeks 5 or 6 of this course he invited us to a challenge.

Essentially, we had to do a ton of work in the gym which included but was not limited to giving out 10 free taster sessions every day to members of the gym, learning every gym members name, etc.

Things that would benefit our business but also make the gym members feel more comfortable during their time training.

If we accepted the challenge but didn't hit the specific numbers, he'd kick us of the course irrespective of what we'd paid him for this course.

It was my first taste of what he called "high impact accountability".

This concept of giving yourself a consequence that is worse than the result of not doing certain tasks.

But the point of this story actually occurs 16 weeks from this point.

I finish the initial 8-week course and Oli pitches me the next course in his arsenal.

I signed up.

A point that really sold me on this next course was that we got to meet him in an in-person mastermind event in Leeds.

Golden.

So there I am, sat in the hotel's conference room with other personal trainers who had travelled from around the country for the exact same reason as me.

To become better.

Oli had been going through everyone's businesses and creating a list of tasks we needed to complete in order to achieve our goals.

I was making sure to take notes as he was going through the other coaches businesses.

You can always learn from those around you after all.

Finally he worked his way around to me.

Now, keep in mind that I'm only 21 or 22 at this point.

I'm not very confident and I've got a bit of social anxiety.

When he wrote my name on the top of his whiteboard, I got that nervous feeling reminiscent of when the teacher picks on you in front of the whole class.

He begins asking me all about my business; where my current revenue is, where I want it to be, the hours I'm working, the types of clients I'm working with, a full breakdown.

We figure out exactly where I want to be and, just like he did with everyone else, I got a list of tasks that I needed to complete in order to achieve my goals.

He proceeded to ask me what limiting beliefs or barriers were in place that would stop me from completing these tasks.

I can't say for sure because I was quite nervous, but I probably responded with some bullsh*t along the lines of my gym is too small for that, the gym members all wear earphones, the economy is bad, etc.

He looked at me and said "Nathan, God forbid, but if someone put a gun to Husnah's head (my girlfriend) and told you to complete these tasks, would you complete them?"

"100%, of course I would" I responded.

Oli then replied with something along the lines of "So it's a case of priorities and not ability then?".

What else could I answer with? "Yes".

Oli clicked the lid on and off his whiteboard marker as he usually did and sat on the edge of a table.

"So we need to come up with a way to make you feel the same level of drive as when someone's hypothetically got a gun to Husnah's head." He informed me.

I hesitantly replied, "I guess so".

Half intrigued and half scared, I waited for his proposition.

"Is it correct that you're saving towards a buying a house?"

Sh*t. I'd told him this previously. What was he thinking of?

"Yes", I replied.

"Transfer me £10,000" he said nonchalantly.

The words took a few seconds to register.

Slightly stuttering I replied, "I...I can't do that"

"Why not?"

Trying to think fast on my feet, "Well because Husnah also has money in those savings, it's not just my decision."

What the f*ck was he talking about? I can't transfer him £10,000! We've been saving that for our house.

"So how much could you transfer me?" His investigation was relentless.

I could sense the whole room staring at me.

The pressure in the room was palpable and intense.

Blood was rushing to my face.

I thought fast but calculated.

"£2500" I responded after what felt like a full minute.

This whole time Oli's eyes never left mine.

He popped the lid off his whiteboard marker and proceeded to write his bank details on the whiteboard.

"If you don't complete these tasks that we've just outlined together within 30 days, I'm going to keep this money. Alternatively, if you complete the tasks within this time, I'll transfer every penny back to you."

Dumbfounded, I must have just sat there.

"Go on then" he egged me on.

Again, I stuttered "I...I can't transfer a new person without a card reader. I'm with Nationwide you see. It's really annoying."

I bought myself some time.

"No worries mate, there's a nationwide around the corner, we'll walk down together after the mastermind finishes."

My fate was sealed.

While I felt pressured, I never for one second felt like he was trying to scam me. I'd worked with him for months and I knew he was a genuine guy.

When I told him I could transfer him £2500, it's not like I just said it out of nowhere. Realistically, that's what I felt I could commit to.

It was just that the whole situation happened so fast and it was a lot of money.

For the next 20 minutes my face still felt hot, but I was tuned in. Like really f*cking focused.

After Oli had worked his way around the room and completed everyone's business analysis he came back to me.

"Nathan, I'm not going to make you transfer me £2500, unless you want to. The point of that was to get you feeling pressure irrespective of what is going on."

I felt relieved.

"I was watching you for the past 20 minutes and I could see you calculating everything you needed to do once you were home. I'd bet you were ready to run back to PureGym Preston to start working on those tasks, right?"

"100% mate" I replied.

I continued to work with him for a further 2 years from that point, and during that time I've transferred him a lot of money as high impact accountability investments.

Never once did I not complete my tasks.

And that's the point of this story.

While I knew exactly what I needed to do in order to grow my business, I didn't have that pressure, that precious precious accountability.

When you hire a coach, sure you're probably not paying them £2500, but the action of paying suddenly makes you accountable.

What? You're actually going to stay at home when you've got a gym session booked in with your PT and lose that money you've just paid? Of course not.

Hiring a coach makes you accountable.

Hiring a good coach makes you accountable, but also teaches you along the way.

Everyone could benefit from hiring a coach because we could all do with a bit more accountability.

That is the story of how I learned the benefit of high impact accountability.

This inturn changed my life within a few years.

Not only did my business flourish, but it made me do a sky dive, take 127 days of ice cold showers, run my first ultra marathon, learn to drive a car, and ultimately, become a better person.

Trust me when I say that it works.

You basically give yourself no other choice.

And when your desire to reach a goal is that intense, high impact accountability is exactly what you need.