Lifetime Fitness Manager Lee Webber Dallas-Fort Worth | From Trainer to Father

Embark on a journey through the dynamic landscape of the fitness industry with our distinguished guest Lee, a seasoned manager from the Dallas-Fort Worth area. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for anyone aiming to flex their career muscles in this competitive field. Lee brings to the table his expertise on creating strong community ties and the art of cultivating lasting client relationships. With the aftershocks of COVID-19 still felt across the health and wellness sphere, he emphasizes the allure of personality and the power of authentic connection over mere technical acumen. We confront the harsh realities new personal trainers often face, such as daunting turnover rates, and stress the essence of receiving unfiltered feedback and embracing perpetual growth to sculpt a robust career path.

As we navigate the delicate interplay of work, personal fitness, and life, Lee shares his experiences from over a decade at Lifetime. Behind the veneer of personal training lies a rigorous journey akin to that of real estate – it's no walk in the park. We tackle the need for personal boundaries, wise financial habits, and the allure of a corporate fitness structure that offers predictable income and solid benefits, which are pivotal for a trainer's career vitality. The episode closes with an exciting tease into the burgeoning pickleball scene in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, where we can't wait to swing into the insights from pioneers of this rapidly growing sport. Tune in for an enlightening session that promises to offer more than just muscle-building tips – it's about constructing an enduring career and lifestyle that thrives within the heartbeat of the fitness industry.

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Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome to the Show Up Fitness Podcast, where great personal trainers are made. We are changing the fitness industry one qualified trainer at a time, with our in-person and online personal training certification. If you want to become an elite personal trainer, head on over to showupfitnesscom. Also, make sure to check out my book how to Become a Successful Personal Trainer. Don't forget to subscribe, rate and review. Have a great day and keep showing up. Howdy everybody. Welcome back to the Show Up Fitness Podcast. Today we have a manager over here outside of Dallas-Fort Worth, mr Lee, and we're really fortunate to have you take the time to chat with our followers and people who want to turn their passion for fitness into a career. So thank you, lee. Yeah absolutely.

Speaker 2: 0:47

Thanks for having me on, man.

Speaker 1: 0:49

Yeah, we recently got connected via a show up in the CPT, Mr Joel, he got certified and with our partnership with all 170 Lifetimes, it's great to connect with like-minded coaches and we got a stud in front of us DPT and that's really excited to kind of pick your brain today. So, thank you, Lee. Talk to us a little bit more about some of the successes that you see at your facilities, because we were chatting before. It's like you know, obviously Dallas area is going to be different than San Francisco versus Miami, so what's unique to success in the northern Texas area?

Speaker 2: 1:25

Well, there's a couple of things. You know. People really like community here. That's probably the biggest thing you know. People are really friendly here. Relationship building is number one Nowadays in just our industry. I feel it's not just an emotional connection to health, but it's a logical approach to it as well now, because people are realizing more hey, I need to improve my health after COVID. It got kind of weird, you know. So it's not just is it logical now, it's also that emotional connection to health. So you have to really build relationships with people to where they trust you with their time, their body and their money.

Speaker 1: 1:56

We are personal trainers, right, so we are working with people, and it just always intrigues me on the process that the average person will take when it comes to this career, where a lot of these textbook certifications they don't really set you up, I feel, for long-term success Because, like you're saying right there, the most important thing is being able to build those relationships. And so do you see similar track records, with certain trainers being more successful based on their background, or what are things that you look for in your facilities for success, with the trainers being more successful based on their background, or what are things that you look for in your facilities for success?

Speaker 2: 2:27

with the trainers. For me, as as more of the business owner to it, I look for diversity of skills. You don't want to be a call it one trick pony in regards to a department, especially in a, in a multi, a very diverse culture that we have, you know, in lifetimes. But you know, I just really look for the personality fit, like what seat are they sitting in on the bus and can they help move the business forward? So if I have a lot of bodybuilders, for example, on my team, I'm not necessarily going to be looking for another bodybuilding type coach or a powerlifting coach. It's functional or fighting or whatever.

Speaker 2: 2:58

Whatever the business needs are of that time. I look for those skill sets, but I also, you know, look for the personality traits that we absolutely have to have in this industry Because, you know, nowadays some people just have a hard time connecting to people. So if they have a skill, you know I don't even necessarily care so much about the skill as the personality, because I can teach skills all day, but if the personality to connect with people isn't there, it's a really hard, it's a really hard fit.

Speaker 1: 3:22

I love that the people skills. If you don't have them, if you're a rock, you're going to have a hard time getting someone to commit to spending thousands of dollars working with you and getting healthier.

Speaker 2: 3:32

For sure.

Speaker 1: 3:34

So I think that's fascinating because I hear a lot of trainers that will go through whether, if it's Lifetime Equinox and they don't get hired, and then they get kind of down on their luck and I try to let them know. It's like you don't know what they're looking for. You know they could look, they may need a 60 year old male, they may need a specific individual and they can't just reach out to you and say, hey, you're not a bodybuilder, we're not going to hire you. So you know, don't get frustrated if you're not picked up right away.

Speaker 2: 4:05

Yeah, like, hey, here's what you did really well, here's something that you should improve, just moving into whether it's interviewing or just skill setting, because I'll put everybody into a practical Just let me see your skills. If you have some areas where we can improve and you have some really strong skills, I could take a look at that. But I'll always give honest feedback and say, hey, here's some things that you did with this person or how you interacted with somebody. Here was the body language or just communication skills in general. Just try to give somebody something to develop as they're looking for that next good fit for their career.

Speaker 1: 4:34

I love that. It's, you know, always fine tuning the things to make yourself better. And you know we're here to help people as well, not necessarily just our clients helping trainers too. One of the things I talk about in my book how to become a successful personal trainer when I linked up with Dustin this is one of the things that kind of lured him to our brand is we focus on the business skills, the people skills and the trade skills. And unfortunately I'm sure you can attest to and correct me if I'm wrong but a significant amount of trainers quit within the first year of getting that what we call level zero textbook certification. I have statistics up there about 90%. Would you agree with that?

Speaker 2: 5:11

No, I really do agree, we're a luxury industry. And personal training. I think the industry as a whole sells. Ooh, you can charge a hundred plus dollars an hour with these skills. There's definitely a sales skill set that's involved in that that. They're not necessarily being taught with that personality thing that we're talking about, but I think they get demoralized because they see people that are very successful and don't really try that hard because they don't see the bottom of the iceberg. They see the peak. They don't see all the hard work that goes into it. For the veterans of the industry, some of them feel like they don't get fed or developed. So that's a really big piece, I think, for the leadership in this industry to kind of grab by the horns and love on people. I can really care about that bottom layer of our industry because we learned what can happen to our industry if we don't take care of it through COVID that's why I became a leader in the industry.

Speaker 2: 5:57

I want to teach leaders and I want to teach people how to take care of others.

Speaker 1: 6:05

So Common, actually one of our instructors. We were chatting before this and we were playing around with chat GTP and we put in there the biggest concerns that trainers have and one of them was not being able to manage the different needs that our clients have. So you have a client that comes in at eight, they have a knee issue, and then nine they're trying to lose fat, and then 10, they're trying to work on mobility. What would be your piece of advice for that problem that a lot of trainers experience?

Speaker 2: 6:27

And I just had that conversation with my trainer that went through your certification. I was like, hey, don't over diversify. You know, I think over my career I've had 18 certifications and a degree in exercise physiology. But what my mentor taught me was take your certification, apply it for a season of your career, one, see if you like it, but try to like use the law of attraction a little bit. You'll just people will see you training and using those techniques and people will be attracted to that. And then you learn, hey, this is, this is my niche, this is what I'm good at, this is what I love. Before you go get another one.

Speaker 2: 6:58

Because if you get another certification, then you're applying different tricks with different people and it's really hard to program. If you're, if you're a programmer which we should be Right, if you're writing programs, it's really hard to program off all these different types of people and all their different needs If you don't have a main thing like this is how I train, this is my methodology that I use. And then over the time, you know it takes about five to 10 years to master something. So over that time, like this is this is what I've mastered and this is what I'm good at, and then just go make money off of it.

Speaker 1: 7:26

Interesting to me Cause I tutor a lot of trainers and you know they'll buy one of these bundles a couple of grand and they're going to get like seven certifications. And they're so excited and like I got all these acronyms after my name and I tell them where are you training, and they go. Well, you know I got to get these other six before I start training. Like no, you got to go out there and fine tune your skill right now because it's almost, I think, doing worse because you get all this knowledge. And then you just start chatting up your clients and they don't give a shit. They want to. You know, move better, feel better, look better, naked, whatever it is, and you're just overwhelming them with all this esoteric vocabulary and they're like, oh God, not another one of these.

Speaker 2: 8:07

Man I. You know it's funny you say that my I this is one of the primary, you know like call it foundational memories from college for my applied kinesiology professor. She's like nobody cares about the science, don't talk about it, just change your life and give them what they want and they'll pay for that. And I've caught myself so many times just going into the science like nerding out on on potential clients and shut them down. Their analysis paralysis, like all right, see you tomorrow, ghost me. You know they'll never hear from him again Cause like I don't know what he's talking about and trainers get caught up in that.

Speaker 1: 8:33

And we almost probably internalize it because we're thinking, ah, they didn't want to work with me because I didn't know my stuff. I better go get another certification. It's crazy. So you've managed a lot of trainers and you've seen a lot of. You know ones be successful and a lot of ones leave. Why do you think so many trainers leave the corporate gym environment?

Speaker 2: 8:53

You know that's a that's a dynamic question, you know, nowadays, I would think I would think the answer is a little bit different than prior to COVID and just the new generation of team members coming into the workforce. I think a lot of people have side hustles and I think that's a big. You know, we kind of need it because, financial situations right, there's this compartmentalization of it where they have three or four different income streams and they're just trying to see which one works best with the most flexibility, because that's this generation of work is. I want as much flexibility as possible and make as much money as possible. And this is a world, especially in corporate fitness, you have to be seen.

Speaker 2: 9:34

So that's why I've always loved Lifetime's schedule thought process. I'm here at work and then I leave. So I'm going to maximize my time here because I'm away from my kids. I have four kids. They were in a sports. You know I've built a life around lifetime and I try to preach that to all my new team members. Just build work when you're here, you know, control the controllables when you're inside this building and you can leave it at the house, you know you can just leave it here and go do the rest of life. But if you're in and out a lot, some people like that. Some people are like, oh, I have a client and then three hours later I have another client, I can go get something else done. So I really think having multiple hustles when you start your business is a really hard thing to maintain because you burn your wick at both ends. But I also think that there's a lot of people that think this is easy money and it's just not, you know, it's like real estate.

Speaker 2: 10:22

Everybody gets the realtor's license. They're like, oh wait, this is a lot of work. I have to put down a lot of hustle to make money. So I really think those are really two big pieces. They think it's easy money when it's not, and they have too many other things that are kind of burning their wake at both ends.

Speaker 1: 10:35

That was actually one of the top reasons why trainers quit is burning the candle both ends and and we look at like the tip of the iceberg that you were talking about earlier. So for those that are just signing on, you're like, oh this, these are all great words, but you know, the fine print here with Lee is you started out at Lifetime in 2007. That's crazy. So you are one loyal SOB.

Speaker 2: 10:55

You can say that for sure.

Speaker 1: 10:57

And Lifetime loves that, and so, if you don't mind, talk to us a little bit more about that balance. You know four freaking kids, I got one and I feel like I'm overwhelmed. Geez, that's impressive, yeah.

Speaker 2: 11:07

Yeah, you know, it's about boundaries, honestly, personal boundaries. We preach all these things and I always you know this might not be the best way to say it, but I would say trainers make broke, look good, you know, because we're always, we're always going, we're always spending money, we're always doing things. We don't always take our own advice and we're trying to create boundaries in people's lives and it's really hard to serve others in areas that we're not serving ourself in. So and that goes into longevity and retention and all that stuff. So, in being relatable to the people that we try to change their lives with, it's important for us to draw our boundaries.

Speaker 2: 11:42

I read a good book a long time ago called Margin have margin in your life. It's where you can compartmentalize. This is what I do for work and how I change people's lives. Nothing that I sell is bad for people and I don't feel bad trying to get the sale. And this is what I do outside of work and this is why I work. This is my family. I've built a great career, lifetime and I've stood the test of time, if you will, and we go through our hard years, you know.

Speaker 2: 12:05

But it's also financial management, because you know, and we have to reverse engineer our budgets. It's like I don't. I don't know how much I'm going to make ever. So my wife and I, we sit down every week. We talk about food and money what are we eating this week and what are we spending this week? Well, how much do we need to make? And the cool thing about being a personal trainer is I can go make that in a corporate fitness environment because it's a very controllable paycheck versus I don't know when my client's going to give me a check and if they miss sessions, who knows, you know? So it's that's why I really appreciate the corporate dynamic and the corporate structure, because I don't have to worry about any of that.

Speaker 1: 12:36

Would you say that's true in management, or would you also say it's true as a trainer at Lifetime?

Speaker 2: 12:43

It's all performance based right. Trainer at Lifetime it's all performance-based right. So, without going into compensation of Lifetime, I do get compensated for being a leader, but it's not a salary I would consider it. But we're always accountable to our P&L and our sales and service dollars and all that stuff. So I love our business model and how it's set up to our pay structure. I think it's one of the best in the industry and we pay the most, for sure. So, and our charge rates are great and we have the demographic for it. So you know just being a great company to work for outside of its benefits structure, which is another thing about corporate fitness is that you know health insurance, life insurance, dental vision all the cool things you get in other jobs you can get that as a personal trainer lifetime.

Speaker 1: 13:30

So it's pretty cool. Absolutely, that's great. I mean they really take care of you all and set you up for success. And what made you make that step into more of a leadership role? Because you were a trainer for X amount of years and then you got into the leadership stuff.

Speaker 2: 13:38

Yeah, you know, I remember when I was in the 10th grade we had to make a personal mission statement and it's just kind of stuck with me through my career to be a positive impact in every life I come in contact with and you know when I was exploring. Just you know my career and whatnot I'm like you know what I want to go into leadership because I can only affect so many people myself. But if I start, you know, leading trainers and developing trainers they can also have a positive impact in people's life as well. So just you know the compound effect if you have a great book too, right, the compound effect.

Speaker 1: 14:08

So many great books that are out there for trainers to be with. Now, For those that are listening and maybe you have an interview at Lifetime what would be that little insider piece of information that you would give that trainer to really go crush it so they can get hired and start a career similar to yours and help people?

Speaker 2: 14:29

Passion. That is the biggest word I think we need in this industry. Just be passionate about what you're doing, because people feel passion from an interviewer. I feel somebody's passion or this is a last resort, last shot for their career, kind of thing, so I can feel that you feel people's passion In a lifetime. I really think that passion is one of the biggest things we really want, want, need and pursue in performers and just on my team. I want people to be passionate about what they do because it's infectious and it's positive and people need to be lifted up, you know more than ever nowadays. So I really think that if they go into any interview situation or are already on the floor, you know just be passionate and the law of attraction really works. It really does.

Speaker 1: 15:05

Probably the number one thing I hear with people getting in the industry is I'm passionate about fitness and I want to help people, so that's awesome. Now the last question I have for you before we get back in the workday is if you could go back and give Lee advice in 2007, what would that advice be? Slow down.

Speaker 2: 15:28

It's like like, hey, we always speed up. You know we're always talking about do more, do more. But I think back in the day I was in such a hurry, I missed a lot of things that I could have, uh, maybe been more successful back then if I would have just slowed down and and talked. That was some feedback that I got from one of my leaders, because I was always, you know, running across the floor all the time because I have a lot of energy, um, endurance athlete, right, you know, I just I never stop um, and there's like slowdowns where you can talk to people more, listen better, understand better and kind of mature a little bit faster. I think just slowing down and taking it all in is really important.

Speaker 1: 15:53

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 15:54

Well.

Speaker 1: 15:55

I'm going to be out in the Fort Worth Dallas area here very shortly and we'll get to these facilities. If you haven't been to the ones everything's bigger in Texas, I don't know, I've been to the Austin one you facilities. If you haven't been to the ones everything's bigger in texas, I don't know, I've been to the austin one you guys have like freaking.

Speaker 2: 16:11

You were saying talk to me about your courts that you have out there. That's nuts. Yeah, that's a lot of 16 pickleball courts outside and three inside. So we converted one of our basketball courts to taking over the world. Huh it sure is it.

Speaker 1: 16:19

Sure is it's fun, man, I love it so I'll be out there and I'll have to you'll have to give me a little endurance workout, because I'm sure I can learn a ton from you and you know you are a leader and a pioneer in the industry. So I thank you for your time. It's very great to chat with you and looking forward to meeting you in person one day.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Yes, sir, for sure, Look me up, have a good one. Thank you, you too, thank you.