People Business

What do you do? What business are you in? Hold on...don't be quick to answer "insurance agent" or "bus driver" or "server", etc. Some of us do office jobs, some of us work retail, some of us serve drinks to drunk people at all hours of the night. Whatever your occupation, though, it's important to remember you are in the "people business". I first heard this a while back, but it really stuck with me. If you know me, you know that I'm kind of the jack-of-all-trades kind of guy. I've worked retail, fast-food, been a server and bartender, personal banker, insurance agent, graphic designer, and finally I'm on to personal trainer.

The greatest skills I've picked up have to do with people--listening, learning, reading, teaching, and providing solutions for people. The most important though is something I feel you can't overlook, and something that Chalene Johnson, celebrity trainer for Beachbody, highlighted in a webinar I was listening to. She said, "take an interest in people." What this means to me is something I already do but now am more conscious of: I genuinely care for the well-being of other people. I really do. It is important to me that the people I serve and help have been taken care of properly, and more importantly, if I can influence one person to make a positive change because they feel that I actually do care about them, then it's worth it. More often than not, I wonder about people that I've given my business card to that I haven't heard from, or people I've lost touch with for one reason or another. "Could I have done more to influence more of a response?" or "why hasn't this person tried to contact me yet?" are some of the questions I ask myself, and I hope that these people make some healthy changes, even if I don't ever speak to them again. So whatever you do, just remember you are in the people business, and when you approach it this way and genuinely care for your customers, I assure you that bigger successes will follow. Thanks for reading and have a great Monday!