I have to tell you this amazing analogy that was shared with me by one of my mentors. Being a visual learner, analogies are my jam.
My mentor said: I will equate your Beachbody business like growing a garden.
{ha! yes, follow me.}
In our industry, we hear terms like, "You gotta plant seeds," "You need to water the seeds." "But make sure you don't drown the seeds.” Any of those sound familiar?
It's a fancy way of saying, talk to people and build conversation and interest. Connect with them and see if there is a way to help them in life. Totally casual. Genuine. But talking with people takes practice, I know from experience.
Here's my story:
A sweet little lady... let's call her Laura for kicks and giggles... she wanted some tomatoes. She saw that her neighbor had a sign in their front yard, "Delicious tomatoes, guaranteed! Come get em!"
Little lady Laura got so excited. She went over to her neighbors house, asked about their tomatoes and her neighbor gave her a brown lunch bag with the words, "Delicious tomatoes, guaranteed!"
OOO Little Lady Laura was so excited. The next day, Laura had been dreaming all day about these tomatoes. What would they taste like? How big will they be? She couldn't stop thinking about them.
She plopped down at the dinner table that night, open the bag to put her "guaranteed" tomatoes in her fresh green salad.. AND NO TOMATOES!!!!!
Instead, she saw seeds.
She marched her sassy self to her neighbors house, "Excuse me, Mr. Neighbor Man, I thought you said this bag had tomatoes in them!"
Mr. Neighbor Man: Yes, the bag does have tomatoes. There are seeds in the bag. Did you plant those seeds?
Little lady Laura: Well, no. I guess I should have opened the bag. I will plant the seeds tomorrow.
Tomorrow came and Little Lady Laura put on her gardening gloves, picked out a piece of her land, tilled the ground, pulled the weeds, fertilized the dirt... and planted EVERY SINGLE SEED in the bag. What an accomplishment!! She is determined!
The NEXT WEEK, Little Lady Laura had much anxiety and excitement to run to her garden to see her labor at work.
Nothing. No tomatoes. Notta.
She marched herself to Mr. Neighbor Man and said, "Look mister. I planted those seeds. I got down and dirty. I scuffed my knees. I got dirt under my nails. I pulled the weeds. Softened the ground. What the heck is wrong with your tomatoe seeds??"
The patient Mr. Neighbor Man asked her, "Well, did you water them?"
Little lady Laura: "Hm. No. I planted them last week and checked on them a week later. And nothing has grown."
Mr. Neighbor Man: "You need to water them. Follow the directions I put in the bag."
Little lady Laura felt guilty and finally trusted his advice. She went to water the tomatoes... and pulled out a few newly sprouted weeds...
She then found and read the directions on the little brown lunch bag he originally gave her. She decided to try his way.
(1) Till the ground
(2) Plant the seeds
(3) Water the seeds
(4) Pull the weeds
(5) Water + Sunshine
(6) Give it time to grow
(7) Water + Sunshine
(8) Pull the weeds
(9) Pick ripe tomatoes
(10) Eat & enjoy those bad boys!
^ Pardon my lengthy and cheesefest story. But think about it. As Beachbody Coaches, we are a bit dramatic. We forget that we each have a garden to harvest. We EACH have a new piece of land we need to till, fertilize, seed, water and harvest.
To put this into business terms, watch this summary here: This is a lesson I get to learn over and over and over. My goal is to simply have ripe fruit each season of the year. To always be planting new seeds, tending to previous seeds by watering them with my public posts & credibility. Checking back in to see if any of them are ready.
I am in the people business. There are layers of complications with that -- but people skills CAN be learned. I believe work ethic and diligence can ONLY be learned if your WHY is big enough. If you are HUNGRY enough, you will find a way to grow a garden.
It's a fancy way of saying, talk to people and build conversation and interest. Connect with them and see if there is a way to help them in life. Totally casual. Genuine. But talking with people takes practice, I know from experience.
Here's my story:
Mr. Neighbor Man: Yes, the bag does have tomatoes. There are seeds in the bag. Did you plant those seeds?
Little lady Laura felt guilty and finally trusted his advice. She went to water the tomatoes... and pulled out a few newly sprouted weeds...
