Commitment

Key Point: I will work with you in whatever way you need to achieve your goals and I will work as hard as necessary to make them happen.

This is part of my 3-part series explaining my Core Values. As I’ve said in my other posts, I didn’t fully understand the reasoning behind core values until I had been in the Marines for about 8 years. They seemed like gimmicky nonsense that didn’t actually matter. Since then, my opinion has drastically changed and I regularly refer back to Honor, Courage, and Commitment when I make Marine Corps decisions. They’re the answer to so many questions when you aren’t sure what to do. My core values are Compassion, Commitment, and Results. I want to explain why I chose each of these. In other posts I’ve talked about talked about Compassion and Results. Today I want to explain what I mean by Commitment.

The basic explanation is that I am committed to my clients goals, on average, more than they are. As a Marine, I don’t really have “hours” or even a real “job description.” If something needed to get done, it needed to get done, period. So I did what I had to and the idea of doing things any other way is rather foreign to me.

I realize that I sell sessions, but I probably spend more time between sessions working on client goals, answering questions, and talking to them about issues as they arise than I do in actual training sessions. The Marine Corps taught me that you have to do everything you can to accomplish your mission, and once you’re my client, your satisfaction becomes my mission. I don’t care how long it takes me or what obstacles we’ll face. We’ll face them together.

Sessions are sold in hour increments, but I’ve never ended a session because they ran out of time. I have to make enough money to justify the time I spend not working on Marine Corps work or spending time with my daughters. But if someone signs up with me, I consider myself at their disposal. I love helping people and training people. When I was active duty and for years after I did it for free for anyone that wanted it. I’ve spend countless hours giving advice on message boards for free.

Since having kids I can’t do that anymore, but if someone is paying my rates for training, I simply refuse to nickel and dime them. Extra programming? Free. Questions? Free. Nutrition advice (while staying in my lane)? Free. Need to vent about work or life? Free. I generally see myself as a salaried employee for any clients that I’m currently working with.