Today my girlfriend and I were walking along Regent's Canal in London. We were hunting for coffee, donuts, and a gym (in no particular order).
Google Maps took us to this hidden fitness center right on the waterfront. It's called Hitio Gym.
It's a clean and stylish place with everything you need for a good workout. But there was something about that I'd never seen in any other weightlifting gym before.
Impeccable service.
Tim greeted us at the front desk. He...
asked us our names
asked where we were from
wondered how long we'd be around so he could give us the best deal
got curious about the kinds of workouts we do
gave us a tour of the gym
offered to keep our backpacks in his office
It took 10 seconds for me to see how much this guy cared. We were only paying £15 for a day pass but he was treating us like we were his most lucrative members.
As he walked us through, I asked, "You own this place, don't you?"
He did.
I thanked him for his attentive and high-quality service. We went to some bigger gym chains the week before and received nothing close to what Tim provided.
It takes so little to do an excellent job. Something as simple as asking someone's name and remembering it five minutes later.
The thing is, I saw Tim do the same thing for other newcomers during my workout. He gave everyone the same treatment.
After exercising we bid farewell to Tim and promised we'd be back. I left a 5-star Google Review. It was a lovely start to the day.
I love capitalism.
I think it's a beautiful thing that anyone who develops the right skills and who finds a way to create value can be rewarded for it.
I've only been in the entrepreneurship space for a few years. But I've seen some wonderful things. Countless people solving interesting problems, increasing the quality of goods and services, and making the world a better place.
Tim runs an amazing gym. I can choose from any of the hundreds of establishments in London until I return to the States. But I want to reward Hitio Gym with my money because I love the product.
If the gym was dirty, the staff was cold, and the location was ugly...you'd never see me there again.
There's a phrase I heard when I started my coaching business. As the years tick by, it's only becoming more and more relevant.
The market speaks.
In other words: the results you're getting are based on the value you provide.
If you're a fun and thoughtful person who asks great questions, helps clean up, and makes people feel loved...more people are going to want to be your friend and invite you to their home.
If you're kind, funny, and you ask for what you want...more people will be down to date you.
If your product or service makes people's lives easier and consistently works as promised...more people will be willing to buy it.
No YouTube channel deserves subscribers. No human deserves a spouse. No business deserves customers.
Because the market speaks.
I've gotten pushback on this phrase in the past. It's typically from people who dislike the idea of human beings having different levels of 'value.'
But we all create hierarchies.
You choose to listen to music you love, not music you hate. You've met tons of people in your life, but only chose a small percentage of them to be your friends. There are thousands of different brands and styles you could choose from, but you wear the clothes that feel best for you.
In the phrase, the market speaks, we are the market. And we speak with our decisions.
We make decisions based on the amount of value we get from what we choose.
The reason I love this truth so much is because it means those who do an amazing job get rewarded. Being an incredible person will make people want to be around you. Being a skilled person will make people want to give you money. Being a curious person will make people want to open up to you.
I've been using this framework recently to find ways to make myself more valuable.
How can I be a better friend? How can I make my clients' lives easier? How can I make people feel silly for not doing business with me?
I've been hopping on more calls with people to help them out. I've made myself more available to the people I work with. I even hired someone to type up summaries of coaching sessions so I can send them to my clients.
What about you? How can you make yourself more valuable to the 'market?'