For the last 10 years I've made a big part of my living by giving training advice through a keyboard and a video camera. I pride myself on being one of the top people in The World that is able to do this long-term and maintain a business. Thumbing through Instagram I see people offering similar services who post photos and videos of their clients SHOWCASING what they have done and sometimes it digs into my side just a little bit. Sometimes I forget what my job is.
A few weeks ago I was sitting at a dinner table with an athlete who has a Top 10 Finish at World's Strongest Man and they knew that I had worked with WSM athletes, but they were not for SURE as to whom I had worked with. I mentioned that I'd worked with several whom had made it to WSM, several that had made the finals, and one that had a Top 3 Finish. "I want to ask you who you worked with that had a Top 3 finish, but you can't answer that, can you?". And he was correct. A large majority of the clients that I get at that level hire me because they know that I'll never use them in any way, not even when I could really REALLY benefit from it. Some of my athletes pay me because they know that I will keep my mouth shut and that they can come to me with ANY problem and if I don't have a solution myself...I will find someone who does! That, to them, is really important.
But it didn't stop me from going through social media and noticing that three different people THAT DAY had used either direct quotes by me from our personal emails AS THEIR OWN WORDS or to credit their new coach for their progress they made in a video where I was coaching them. Now, I understand that many coaches only take on clients that will promote their coaching services a minimum times per week but if that is the level that we are currently at then we are in trouble.
But see, I have faith that we are NOT at that level. I have a stack of clients right now that post videos on every method of social media and a stack that prefer to remain totally silent in the shadows and you will never hear from them. The truth is, they pay me for help...not for credit! I'm not supposed to get credit...I get money and they get results! That is my job!
They pay me for results, not for recognition!
So if they want to pay me and take credit themselves or give credit to someone else that had nothing to do with the process, it's OK. Services paid for and delivered, conversations and credit included. I had to bite my lip a little bit and my wife had to hear me complain for about half an hour...but it is OK.
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