The Certification Epidemic

Transcription

Yuri Elkaim:                         What’s going on Healthpreneurs? How are you doing? Welcome back to the show, Yuri is here with you with Steph, Jackie and Amy; three of our awesome results coaches. Welcome guys, how’s it going?

Amy:                                     Hey

Jackie:                                   Hi

Steph:                                   Awesome

Introducing today’s topic: The certification epidemic

Yuri Elkaim:                         Wicked. So, today we are going to be talking about a topic which I think is- I don’t know, we’ll have some fun with this. It’s called the Certification Epidemic and if you’re watching this, you’re most likely a health or fitness expert and that means you’ve probably gotten some type of certification at some point in your life. You’ve probably done the personal trainer exam, you’ve gone to school for a certification or degrees and you’ve maybe done multiple different types of certifications. And what I want to postulate in today’s episode is that I think having or going down this road of having too many certifications can actually be holding you back from your dreams and we’ll talk about why that’s the case in today’s episode.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Amy, just out of curiosity, what type of certifications have you done in your fitness training?

Amy:                                     In my fitness career, Personal Trainer, I have a functional training certificate. I then have Precision and Nutritional level 1 and level 2. I have a bunch.

Jackie:                                   You just got your Yoga certification.

Amy:                                     What is it?

Jackie:                                   You just got your Yoga certification too!

Amy:                                     Yes, I did. I did just get my Yoga certification. But that was after 10 years of denying myself.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So let me ask you, why did you get your Yoga certification?

Amy:                                     I got my Yoga certification because I love yoga. Yoga is so important to me, it really is central to my life. It’s really a part of who I am and so when I went for this certification, it was really for me. My yoga teacher said, “You don’t have to teach.” She was like, ” Just do the course, it’s going to be so good for you.” So, I took if for a different reason than all my other certifications.

Yuri Elkaim:                         And Jackie and Steph, you guys have done your own stuff as well, which is great. One of the things I want to get across in today’s episode is that you have to be good at what you do, you have to be very good at your craft. So if part of that is going to school and getting certifications, sharpening your saw so you can better help your clients, I’m all for that and I think it’s really important because if you don’t have the tools in the toolbox, you can’t fix a lot of problems. So that’s important. But the other end of the spectrum is where a lot of people in most days use more certifications as a stall tactic from putting themselves out there to do what matters most which is selling and enrolling clients and actually putting themselves out and building a business.

Using certifications as a stall tactic

Yuri Elkaim:                         So I want to ask you guys; Jackie, you’ve obviously done a lot of calls for us; has this been something that’s come up for you where you’ve spoken to someone who is like “I’ll get this started when I’ve got my ducks in a row and I’ve gotten this certification done.” I’m sure that’s happened a few times. Tell us a little bit about that.

Jackie:                                   Yes and thankfully I can relate to that because I have multiple coaching certifications in different levels and what I’ve come to realize is that they all were great tools in the toolbox but then I was becoming a master of many instead of one. And thank God because I would have been tens of hundreds of thousands of dollars later. And so really when I get to people on these phone calls and they say, “Now I need to have this,” or “I need to finish up this,” the cool thing is, we usually get to a point where it’s like, “I don’t need any more, but I do want to finish what I’m doing,” and “How cool would it be to have clients at the end of it instead of trying to wait another two, three, four five, six months to figure out how to get clients?” So I congratulate, and start to coach and train in real life and get paid on graduation day or before.

Jackie:                                   That’s the really cool part when you use the Health Business Accelerator workshop. I wish I would have had this, Yuri, way back when you and I started working together, right?

Jackie:                                   You can get in that whole cycle of and going back to like mindset even, it’s more like feeling not good enough, having the spotlight syndrome, comparing ourselves to others when really, we bring a unique talent just who we are as we are. Steph and I have even been through the same training programs but yet we still bring different components to the table. We worked in Corporate America together in different levels and we still bring different components, right? So it’s not even about comparison anymore, it’s more like just focusing on your gifts and talents, bringing that to the table because there’s a lot of people who are looking for you and can’t find you because you’re still taking another training program and you’re going to do that forever until someone helps you break that cycle.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I think you really hit the nail on the head, because it really is what you mentioned. There’s so much self-doubt because everyone is comparing themselves to everyone else. ” Oh my God, this person has so many letters behind their name; this person has so many whatever’s behind their name; this person is crushing it on Instagram; oh, they’re PM level certified whatever or I’ve got to do this or that.” And again, it’s this balance of doing enough to be dangerous but also not falling into the lifelong student syndrome.

Yuri Elkaim:                         I’ve got friends from university which I graduated almost 16 years ago, and they are still in school. They are still doing the PhD thing. Listen, that’s fine if you want to do that, maybe I’m really just delusional in my thinking about this, but I feel like some of them are almost trying to avoid the real world by being a student forever. And I see this happen a little bit too much in the health and fitness face as well.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Steph, because you do a lot of great coaching with our clients, does this come up with some of the coaching calls that you do in terms of people not believing themselves enough, having that self-doubt, how does all of this kind of creep into that?

Steph:                                   A hundred percent. So I think that a lot of times, just like Jackie was saying, is that a lot of it stems from lack of self-worth and not feeling ready. So you’re constantly getting ready to get ready. It’s like “Once I get this certification done, then I’ll be good enough.” Then you’ll get that certification, “I still don’t feel good enough. Okay, maybe I need to get this certification and then I’ll be good enough. Nope, still don’t feel good enough.”

Steph:                                   But the funny thing about it is that you have this big dream to help all these people and make a lot of money hopefully at the same time. You feel like you’re taking steps forward towards that big vision, that big dream by taking all of these certifications but really it’s like this cave analogy I always use: It’s like you’re going like this; the next podcast I listen to, the next video I watch, the next certification, the next book, the next this, the next that. You’re going in circles, going nowhere, you have to actually take action and do the thing, and see the clients, and launch the course, and try something that’s actually going to build your business rather than “Let me get ready. Let me get ready. Let me get ready. Let me do this. Let me do that.”

Steph:                                   There’s a lot of people that get stuck in that. There’s also a lot of perfectionism, so I just recently did some research on perfectionism and the last 30 years it has just exponentially gone up. Meaning people feel like they have to be, do and have everything they are seeing online specifically, so on like Instagram, on Facebook, so if you see this whoever, whoever doing all of these amazing things that has all of these letters behind their name, you think, “Oh my God, I can’t possibly do anything until I’m just like that.” When really people are just posting their highlight reels, it’s not even real, it’s very curated. So people just have to remember that, and Stephan James just posted something funny on Facebook. He’s like, “People always ask me what’s the first step. It’s like, take the first step!” You actually have to do something. There’s no perfect thing, you just actually have to do it and you can’t do that if you’re constantly thinking you have to get the next certification, and the next certification. You don’t need them. You really don’t.

The mindset and action you need to create

Steph:                                   That’s the thing, is if you build your own business and your own brand and doing your own thing, you really don’t need so-and-so certification of this certification or that certification. I learned that the hard way.

Steph:                                   And nobody asks you. I’ve never had any client ask me what certifications I’ve had. And my degree from college, from university is in Healthcare Administration with a minor in Business Communication. My minor’s gotten me farther than my major. And so, it’s more about who has coached you. When I would mention the people I’ve worked with, Dr. Jim Lair, Dr. Jack Ruppel, Heidi Hannah, Yuri Elkaim. When I start mentioning big players, they don’t give a a***. They’re like, “You’ve worked with high players, they obviously see something in you. I want to work with you.” It’s that next level up.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Absolutely. One of the things I was thinking about was what Steph mentioned. Think of it this way, guys, if you ever watch ESPN, or if you’re in Canada watching TSN, if you watch the top 30 goals of the month, those are like the highlight reels of really boring games. You are looking at these amazing goals and you’re thinking, “Man, that’s what I’ve got to do.” But the reality is, like in soccer, it was 90 minutes of a little like a big yawn. Not in all cases, but we miss everything that goes into what creates that goal. And I think it’s just a great perspective, you brought up stuff to constantly remind us. We live in this world of comparisons, that’s obviously going to happen no matter what; but I think it comes down to, you have to be so solid in your own skin that all that other stuff just washes away.

The network prescription and handling haters

Yuri Elkaim:                         A funny story, literally yesterday, I see this post on Instagram, and I’m like, “What the hell is going on?” Some dude saw a video of mine on my health channel where I talk about drinking a lot of water with your meal is not a great idea. So some dude turns that into a meme, and it’s got my face on it from the video with this huge headline saying something like, “Drinking water is bad for you.” And then he goes on to destroy me saying I’m this f-ing a****** and this, and this, and this. He’s now upturned 50,000 followers. And he put this up on Instagram and Facebook and it’s amazing how fast people jumped in like “Yeah, this guy’s a frigging idiot” and whatever, whatever. I’m like guys, watch the video for context. But the thing is when he posted that, we had people who follow me who jumped into the conversation like “WTF” “What is this about?” “What are you guys doing?”

Yuri Elkaim:                         The thing is that it didn’t even phase me. Maybe years ago, I would have had that, like, “Oh my God, what is going to happen?” I didn’t even- that butterfly feeling, that sinking stomach feeling- it didn’t even happen for a second. Because I just kind of scrolled through his feed really quickly; his whole business is built around tearing other people down. And I’m like man, that’s just the way he is. I’m not going to engage in this nonsense. Who cares?

Yuri Elkaim:                         You have to get- and I don’t know what the prescription is to build that type of thick skin other than the fact that you just have to build thick skin. You have to put yourself out there. I’ve literally been dealt, and we all have, negative comments, people smack talk you, telling us like, we look a certain way. If you don’t put yourself out there, you’re going to stay safe. You’re never going to see that stuff. And I think a lot of times we don’t put ourselves out there because we fear that backlash, but the only way to get better at dealing with that backlash is to deal with that backlash. Do you think Trump cares what people think about him?

Jackie:                                   Yeah, Yuri, the prescription is-it’s simple, it’s having a good network, like a tight, small network, not hundreds of thousands of people like your master minds, like up leveling to next coaching groups and a coach. Sometimes that self-doubt, sometimes that negative talk is worse than that person who just posted a meme about you. Sometimes it comes from internally and it holds us back from taking that step. So I think when you have that coach or you at least have a network or both, where you can lean on that and people can call you out on your own self insecurities in a very loving and kind way and break you out of those habitual thoughts, then you can move forward. And you can be like, “Yeah, that next credential, it may be nice to have.” It’s not a must have.

Jackie:                                   I used to view Ty Lopez. I’m like, “Oh my God, there’s Ty Lopez again.” He used to drive me bonkers. I watched a really cool episode of him on YouTube over the weekend because I wanted to understand the real Ty Lopez. I just didn’t want to know him as a guy who read a book a day, or an hour, or five books a day. I don’t remember. He was just reading so many books, and it was driving me bonkers because I don’t teach my personal coaching clients that. I tell them to read one book a year, I don’t care, just read something and take action on it. If you’re going to read one a day and not take action, what’s the point? That’s why he rubbed me the wrong way. But now that I got to know him, he’s pretty brilliant and he has his stuff together and he does more than what all of society, all of these other haters have done or said about him.

Not operating on a “just in case” basis

Yuri Elkaim:                         Another section I’ve had recently is just in time versus just in case. So, it’s learning something that, if we go back into people looking to deploy their business, they’re thinking about “I’m going to get this just in case this happens. I’m going to get this certification just in case some time down the road, I have to deal with this.” And again, I understand that everyone is different from the way we’re made up. Jackie and I were very similar in terms of we’ll just jump into something without thinking much about it. Not everyone is like that, so I understand that.

Yuri Elkaim:                         But for me, it’s like I’m going to jump in and do this and then if something comes up, then I’m going to get the skills to deal with that. And so what that allows most people to do is it allows them to take action and move forward and when stuff comes up, in that just in time scenario, you have that deadline, urgency really, to get that stuff figured out as fast as possible. And that, again, is not for everyone but for me it’s really worked well because otherwise you’re just accumulating stuff that you’re never going to use and it’s kind of like reading 52 books instead of reading one book and mastering it and going deep with that.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Amy, I apologize because I muted your line on my end, but I think you can unmute yourself. I’ll let you jump in there.

Amy:                                     It’s all good. I wanted to piggyback on what Jackie said about having a coach. I had a great session with one of our clients the other day, one of our check-in calls, which is just so great that we’re doing these 2 weeks and the 4 weeks in with our clients. So it came down to it, we went over all the nuts and the bolts and the programs is sounding amazing, and really getting back, again, just super simple, and the end of the call comes and there’s silence and the question is “So how do I get over imposture syndrome?”

Amy:                                     And I think this is exactly what we’re talking about and I said, “You know what, you just have to go live and do it.” And that’s it, that’s the only way. You’re never going to, as you said, that next certification, all it’s going to do right now is empty your bank account and fill your brain with more stuff to confuse you. It doesn’t mean you can’t do that down the road, but right now, what can you do to help people including yourself? And that’s really what we see is people struggle with that whole money mindset, so how can you help yourself by increasing your income when you have to increase your impact and you’ve got to just do it.

Amy:                                     So definitely lean in for the support because that was really, there was nothing else to say or do other than just get it done and put it out there.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Thank you for bringing that up, Amy because that posture syndrome affects every single person. I’ve dealt with it. I stalled starting Healthpreneur for two years because of imposture syndrome. So I’ll be very honest with you guys, I went through some major mental issues because, like an identity crisis. I’m this health and fitness guy but I’ve really figured this marketing and business stuff out and all of a sudden I’m going to start teaching that stuff. Who am I to start teaching that stuff? Who’s going to listen to me? Two years of mind freak.

Yuri Elkaim:                         So, guys, everyone goes through this and the only way to get through, like Amy says, you just have to do it. And the thing is, you’ll always be one step ahead of someone else and you’ll always be one step behind someone else as well. So, I really believe that most health and fitness experts take for granted what they know. It’s like, “Oh, everyone knows this.” No they don’t. No they don’t. We’re speaking English, they’re speaking Arabic. It’s different languages guys, you have to really understand that we have magic that can make a big difference in people’s lives and you don’t need more letters behind your name. You could have been a dropout in college, I could have dropped out of university and I still would have had enough knowledge and wisdom to help a lot of people. Never forget that, never feel to do more and more stuff to serve others.

Getting out of the “more and more” mindset

Yuri Elkaim:                         Final thoughts, guys, before we wrap this up. We’ve talked about imposture syndrome, we’ve talked about perfectionism, we’ve talked about delaying and getting ready to get ready. Is there anything else we need to touch on to really drive this point home today?

Jackie:                                   I think it really all goes back to what Stephanie said, it’s that action but what takes it a little deeper is aligned action because that’s going to be heart centered, that’s going to be authentic, that’s going to be true, you don’t have to know it all. When I say I’m a mindset coach, people are like, “Oh, great, that can go in every direction.” But I don’t help everyone. I don’t help everything or every mindset issue, there’s specifics that I’m really good at right now. It doesn’t mean I can’t get those skills and experiences later, but if I’m taking an authentic aligned action, it’s going to feel good, I’m going to be excited again. When we’re taking action based on fear, that’s what holds us up, that’s going to stop us, that’s going to lead to procrastination and that’s going to make us think I need more certifications.

Jackie:                                   So I think if we can just step back, reassess, and take aligned action, that’s going to be a big part of just moving forward with what you have and landing in on the coaching.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Make a decision out of love as opposed to fear. I think anything in life would be better from that fear.

Jackie:                                   Always wins, always wins.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Cool, guys. Well, if you’re listening to this, and you’re at a point where you’re thinking about kind of getting your business off the ground or to the next level and you’ve been delaying for a bit, maybe a little bit too long, then here’s what I want you to do. Check out our free training called the 7 Figure Help Your Business Blueprints. Go to healthpreneurgroup.com/training, check it out if your residence fits you and you’re at a point where you’re ready to make your business the priority in your life, aside from your health, friends and family and stuff, but if you’re ready to make this your thing, check it out. If this resonates with you, then book a call with us and we can figure out a game plan for your situation and if we’re a fit to work together, that’s cool, if not, totally fine as well. But that’s all today, guys. Thank you for joining us, once again, another between the ear session on the Healthpreneur Podcast and we look forward to seeing you in our next episode. Thanks guys.

Yuri Elkaim:                         Hey, thanks so much for joining us on this episode of the Healthpreneur Podcast. If you have enjoyed this episode, here’s what I’d like you to do right now. If you haven’t done so already, please subscribe to the Healthpreneur Podcast on iTunes, and while you’re there, leave us a rating or review. It helps us get in front of more people and change more lives. And if you’re ready to start or scale your health or fitness coaching business and want to start getting in front of more people, working from a higher level, without training, time or money, then I’d invite you to check out our free 7 Figure Health Business Blueprint Training, totally free, right now, and you can do so at healthpreneurgroup.com/training.

Yuri Elkaim:                         For now, thank you so much for joining us, continue to be great, do great and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.