Hi Joshua and Gary,

My question is related to my part time career that I am looking to make into a full time career. I am a licensed fitness instructor and I am somewhat new to this game–less than one year. I desire to have full classes–filled with people that love me and love the workout that I provide and are dedicated and committed to coming to my classes.

I teach 4 classes a week and attendance is inconsistent. My Monday night class started out really slow but gradually picked up and averages anywhere from 3 to 6 on most nights. One night I had 8 people (I know that that might not sound like a lot to some people but I was happy with that–although I would still like more than that). The week after that I only had three and the other week I had none. When that happens I feel bad and worry that people will never come back and that the classes that I have put so much time, effort, passion and love into will just fade away and I will feel like I failed because I wasn’t good enough for the people to keep coming back.

One of my other classes started off really good and then the numbers dwindled down to just a few people who still continue to come and are very loyal and love my class. That also makes me feel bad–like I wasn’t good enough to be a fitness instructor and that people didn’t like me enough to come back.

I absolutely love what I do-I love teaching fitness–it makes me feel alive and happy. I want to be successful and a popular teacher but I am not sure what to do to get there. I market on Facebook, I put up flyers around town, I ask my students to bring a friend and offer deals to that–such as if they bring a new friend to class they get their class free that night. What can I do to be the successful instructor that I want to be?

Thank you.
Angela

Dear Angela,

You are already truly successful. You have found your passion. Many, many people never find their passions in life. You are truly fortunate. You get to do what you’re passionate about and you even earn money in the process. There’s only one problem. This is not enough for you.

When you do something you love, it is natural to want more. When you notice that the progress is not happening fast enough, you are focusing on lack. Lack attracts more lack. When you notice that classes are less full, you are focused on less-full classes and this is what you attract. We suggest another approach to life.

Your passion is to teach fitness. So what does it matter if you are teaching one person, one hundred people, or one million people? It matters not. You are a worthy and unique instructor. You add value. You are not more worthy if there are more people. This is simply your desire to feel more worthy. If you love what you do, do not look for outside validation to prove your worthiness. The universe does not work like this. Let us explain this further.

If you love what you do and that was enough, you would attract people who resonated with you. That could be ten people or ten million. However, it is not you that attracts people alone, it is people who are attracted to you. It is a co-creative endeavor. There are people who seek fitness training, but they are not a vibrational match to you. That is okay. You are a match to some people and not others. You would not want those who were not a match to you in your class because they would not find the type of instruction they are looking for.

You might think that fitness instruction is general enough that your style should appeal to many people. However, that is not for you to decide. You must be you and allow those who resonate with you to find you. Certainly we agree that a little marketing (when inspired) can help the process. But there is no sense in wanting something just because you think it will make you feel better about yourself. Start to appreciate yourself more and those who resonate with you will begin to show up. It has nothing to do with marketing, or discounts, it has to do with your authenticity and your enthusiasm.

Right now we are teaching to one person; you. There is only one person in the universe who is resonating with our vibration in this moment and that is you. This answer may be read by others in the future, and if it is, it will be because they became a match to that information when they became ready. It has nothing to do with us. We are simply presenting our perspective. We are simply doing what we are passionate about. We are just having a good time. It matters not to us if we reach all of humanity or just you. We teach and whoever responds to it is enough for us. We do not judge our worthiness by the numbers, or the praise, or the criticism, or the awards or the money, or any of that.

We’re only it it because it’s fun.

We are Joshua