At Union Fitness we don't do a 'comment box,' but we have signs that encourage members to email us (anonymously if they so choose), if they have any questions, comments, or concerns. This past weekend we received two anonymous emails about our front desk staff with a 'perturbed' tone. However, I'm grateful that they took the time to give us this information. Both emails essentially said "Why are you paying your weekend staff to sleep in the back?" This brings up a whole slew of questions and concerns on my part, which I will address with those employees. But it brought me to this...
What's the quickest way to get ahead in your place of employment?
The simple answer- take pride in the shit that you hate. The mundane details. The shit that you do when no one is watching. And I'll use three examples to explain my point.
NUMBER ONE.
Keenan, formerly intern #3
One of my weekend staff members is a college student who works his ass off. He started with us as an intern. He was reliable, engaged, and responsible. But what sold me on him- I'd catch him cleaning up the gym when he was just in to train or wasn't on the clock. So when it came time, we hired him. And he still takes care of the details- respecting the space as if it were his own. Taking ownership.
So I'll chew on his ass a bit for not being attentive to the desk this past weekend. But I know he'll take pride in that part of his job, just as he does when it comes to cleaning up.
Where can you find Keenan now? He is going into his senior year at Pitt. He is interning full time with the Pitt Strength and Conditioning staff. I got him in touch with Todd Hamer, who is insanely well connected and respected in the industry because I trust Keenan.
Why? Because he does the shit other people won't do. And he gives 100% effort and does it with a smile.
NUMBER TWO.
Marc Megna, owner of Anatomy 1220
I had the fortune of meeting Marc and listening to his story a couple years ago. Marc came from nothing, made it to the NFL, then got into the fitness industry post football career. He became a trainer. And despite working 14 hour days, you could find him cleaning the gym in between clients.
Was it his gym? No.
Was it his job? No.
Where can you find Marc now? At either one of his multi million dollar locations in Miami.
It's not a coincidence. Marc takes pride in taking care of the small stuff... the stuff that no one wants to do. And he'll continue to be successful no matter what he takes on for those reasons.
NUMBER THREE.
Me.
I was hired at Baker Hughes at 22, fresh out of college. My first job with the company was a technical sales representative. To be brief, that meant I would drive from drilling rig to drilling rig (about 20 customers per sales rep within a 4 hour driving radius) and I would service each customer, which included gathering data on all drill bits run at the rig even if it wasn't ours. This was standard practice in the oil field- in most areas competitors would provide you their bit record. But in the northeast, because it was such an underdeveloped ('new') field, it was like pulling teeth trying to get information because every company thought their information was proprietary.
Long story short, gathering the information and then using our outdated system to update bit records was tedious. We were so swamped with work AND our sales kept rising every quarter, that this 'little' part of the job was swept under the rug.
Then came a day where our bits started getting beat by our competitors and sales slowed down. So we went to our engineers and said we need a new design. So they went to our bit records, and what did they find? Jack shit. Not even enough to wipe your ass with.
Our young team soon realized how royally we screwed ourselves over, when we thought we were getting away with something. This was a tough lesson to learn because for four quarters in a row we got a big ole' bonus of $0.00.
What now? We had the sales part down. Our customers loved us. But they had to do what was best for them, which meant not running our bits. "Bring me something that will drill and I'll run your bit."
So I decided that along with trying to be our best salesman (I was always second best to Pat), I was going to be our best technical field representative (aka MY JOB TITLE).
It's human nature at times to be content with "good enough," especially in this case because "good enough" was getting me paid. But money only goes so far. So I learned this lesson early and I'm grateful for that- a job is really only fulfilling when you find ways to take pride in the details. How to do that?...make it a game. I was going to have the best bit records in the northeast, but it was going to take time.
So I took a few months, and as I visited my rigs, I dug into two years worth of records. A normal rig visit may take an hour. I grabbed lunch for me and my customer and sat out there for 2-3 hours a week ( x 20 rigs) and copied record after record. I had to make friends with tool pushers (the rig manager), directional drilling companies (even competitors), mud companies, and so on.
After about 3 months I was caught up. And I was an even better salesman as a result because I had to convince guys that didn't like me, or saw me as a threat, to open up and hand over information to me.
At one point the District Manager, who was a great mentor to me, called me into his office and thanked me for my effort. Less than a year later I became our youngest account manager in US Land and I was proud as hell about that...I still am in some ways.
Another added bonus- I set a new standard for what bit records could be for our team. In the grand scheme of things I was just doing my job, but I raised the standard for our whole team, which would pay off down the road as I would have to call on that information while in the office.
Moral of the story-
Take care of the details.
Do the shit other people aren't willing to do.
Take pride in all of it.
If you aren't willing to go above and beyond the call of duty in your current role, don't expect to be seen as ready for the next role.
