What is the Platform and Why Must You Stand Upon It?
An Important Invite and Explanation by Be Better Project Founder Phil Kaplan
Allow me to begin describing the Platform by sharing a few of my beliefs specific to my chosen profession. This profession, the one that I've gone full circle with (I'll explain), has come with a whole lot of thrill, its fair share of adventure, a windfall of gratitude and reward, and bumps, craters, and walls that would have steered a more sensible person to head for the hills or move into another career.
Why do I refer to my path as the completion of a full circle? I began, after becoming credentialed, to promote my services with brochures and business cards that said, "Phil Kaplan, Personal Fitness Trainer." As time progressed and I came to see both the opportunity and the pitfalls inherent in our field, I decided I was going to separate myself by growing a staff with shirts and cards that said, not Personal Fitness Trainer, but Fitness Professional. Gradually, much of the industry followed, and today, after examining my achievements and aspirations, my business cards proudly display, Phil Kaplan, Personal Fitness Trainer. I've found not only security in the position, but an unshakable pride that i wish for all who enter our field.
I said I'd begin by sharing a few beliefs which I hold as certainties. Here they are:
Belief: A personal fitness trainer, in the 21st century, plays at least as important a role as a physician, not only in the realm of prevention, but also in the realm of cure
Belief: A competent personal trainer with a track record of life improvement and physical betterment deserves to be compensated at least as well as a professional in medicine, law, or business.
Belief: If we, as personal trainers, are willing to use our resources and continue to deliver more value than people expect, we can completely change the health patterns of an overfat oversick nation.
Before you consider the Platform, consider those beliefs. If they ring true, the Platform is going to serve you in simplifying and speeding the path to your career aspirations. If you don’t fully buy-in, if you raise an eyebrow and envision a question mark or want to follow with the word, “but,” you may not be ready for the Platform.
Either way, whether the beliefs I shared bring a nod of the head or a bit of discomfort, before you read on, if you are a personal fitness trainer committed to excellence, join the group (for free) Every Personal Trainer Needs to Know. It will put you in touch with other high level trainers all committed to betterment, and will serve to shape a group-think that raises the bar on potential.
Click Here to Join the Every Personal Trainer Needs to Know group and you’ll receive access to new and insightful articles and audio clips
The Platform is a bit harder to describe than the “Every Personal Trainer” group. It’s a figurative platform representing a career elevation, a platform that sits in the vacant or cloudy space between that which we call “Fitness,” and that which we’ve come to know as “Medicine.”
If we accept that our industry comes with an absurdly low barrier of entry (many of you know, I got a handsome certification for my cat), and if we also recognize that the health club industry, although it’s succeeded at generating membership revenues, fails abysmally in the arena of “helping people achieve the results they join to achieve,” we’ll also understand that our industry paradigm was shaped, not by personal trainers, but by health club entities seeking to increase revenues while minimizing costs. If trainers produce, they’re considered an ancillary revenue source, and if they fail to, they’re a “cost.”
The industry should be ready to mature, but in order to complete the maturation process, there have to a significant number of true professionals, living by an unmandated but vitally important code of ethics and scope of practice. As fitness professionals, if we are going to step outside of the box of convention and show what we, as individuals and as a collective force, are truly capable of, the movement has to begin with a few willing to break the mold and change the rules.
The Platform is a unified force of fitness professionals, all kindred spirits committed to achieving excellence by improving the lives of others. Prosperity isn’t a word that should represent a distant wish, but rather a condition we should all be living if we simply recognize our potential and deliver the value we’re capable of.
Here's just some of what you'll learn:
- How to create a financial model that allows you to account for "business dollars," "personal dollars," "savings dollars," and "adventure dollars" eliminating any future money worry and providing a true sense of security.
- How to build mutually valuable peer-to-peer relationships with health and medical professionals to create immense opportunities to restore people to health.
- How to ensure that you command professional respect as you build your business without ever compromising integrity or losing the connection with your passion
- How to turn stress into fuel, fury into rocket fuel, and harness the power of creative tension for unprecedented career momentum
Here are the mechanics of the Platform.
1. You invest $9 in a monthly membership, one which gives you access to me and to Kelli Calabrese, the Platform Master Coach, and the dynamic of the interaction is two-way. Immediately upon enrolling you’ll receive a series of powerful audio downloads, three months worth of Platform lessons recorded during the live teleconference. Each audio is accompanied by a Powerpoint presentation and you’ll also receive bonus materials, not throw-ins, but additional lessons specific to finding prosperity and reward in the 21st century as a Personal Trainer.
2. Each month there is a live interactive teleconference / webinar. The session includes a 40-minute presentation by myself, Kelli, and at times invited guests who have unique and powerful information to share. During the session there is a live interactive chat discussion, and a moderator fields questions, some of which are addressed in a Q&A following the presentation. Topics include life skills, specific to the unique issues and challenges personal trainers face, as well as marketing direction, success perspectives, fitness breakthroughs, medical discussions, and lots of edgy food for thought driving you to reexamine and rediscover your abilities and power.
3. The Platform members maintain continued and ongoing interaction via the same e-mail / discussion mechanism we use in the Be Better Project. It’s proven an amazing vehicle for allowing trainers to coach each other, to reach out for assistance when necessary, and to share thoughts and ideas all aimed at addressing crisis, chaos, or betterment. The discussions are posted in real time, and although the board is moderated, inviting Kelli or me to answer questions when appropriate, it is not edited. It becomes a living resource specific to those who connect with the Platform
4. Every month you receive a newsletter featuring at least two full-length articles aimed at helping you find movement toward greater levels of excellence and significance. The newsletter also shares victories, perspectives, and inside peeks at some of our members from around the globe. Because the newsletter is ours to produce, and because it’s delivered as a pdf, the articles aren’t limited as they are in the industry trade magazines (I typically get 1200 – 1800 words as a max). Some of the articles I’ve written for the Platform newsletter could stand as book chapters.
Here’s the absurd part. I’m offering this for $9 a month. I have my reasons, and . . . I’ll share them with you, but if you’re ready, right now, to enroll, simply scroll down or click here and register and start tearing into the downloads you’ll soon receive. You’ll also receive a list of the dates for the next six months of teleconference /webinars.
OK, reasons? You should first now that the Platform was initially ONLY for trainers who successfully completed my 8-month Be Better program. It was part of the overall project, a project in which I sought to coach and counsel those trainers who have “the right stuff,” and as those who have completed Be Better will attest to, it is the most transformational career experience ever created for personal fitness trainers. In order to stay active and connected with others in Be Better, Platform members paid $67.50 per month and received precisely what I’m offering herein. I’m all about maintaining and preserving value, so why would I open the doors to the Platform at such an affordable price?
Because our industry needs connection. The industry itself is fragmented as evidenced by the variance in certification curriculums, the varied employment guidelines established by fitness organizations, and the huge gaps between select fields of practice. The Platform offers a forum where, regardless of your preferred discipline, you can connect with like minded professionals who share the wants and wishes that all competent and caring trainers possess. Whether you earn you living teaching bootcamps, swinging bells, crossing fitness mediums, or committed to one-on-one training, whether you gravitate toward athletes, special needs, or deconditioned, if you have a desire to Be Better, this is a membership that’s directly tied to your desire.
At first, the Platform was a small group, as Be Better only brought 20 professionals through every 8 months. The group was intimate, everyone felt comfortable leaving their egos and protective shells somewhere else, and the discussions had an interpersonal element that created a real sense of family. As the Be Better project continued to prove its merit and value, and as consecutive groups completed their 8-months, more and more trainers stepped up onto the Platform.
I created a new group, Beyond Better, which became the elite, the premium offering, and required the 8-month journey through Be Better. That allowed me to open the Platform up to those trainers who may not be ready for the Be Better commitment ($2600 and 8 months, soon to be $3250 and 10 months) but have the hunger and want for betterment. The information is extraordinary. I am fully committed to this project and have a personal interest in seeing everyone connected to it find growth and greater ease. I understand intimately the ongoing challenges of balancing love of life, passion, career, commitment, family, and finances and the information shared on the Platform comes from a place of life management solutions. It’s good stuff. No, it’s great stuff.
Be a part of it. Join now. It’s only $9!
Whether or not you join Be Better, join the free “Every Personal Trainer Needs to Know” group.
Realize that life throws a lot your way, and some of what gets thrown is worth catching and holding on to. This program will help you to distinguish between the “hold on” and the “let go,” and in that you’ll learn to Be Better. Always Better.
Sincerely,
Phil Kaplan
Founder, Be Better Project
Be Better Solutions, Inc.