A successful profession starts with a passion. To become successful, you have to be passionate about the results you want to achieve and why they are important. But is simply having a passion for something enough to get to the top of your field?

On Friday 21st October, we were joined LIVE on the Big Friday Finish by Fitness and Martial Arts expert Matt Fiddes! Matt is one of the most respected experts in the international world of martial arts and fitness and used to be Michael Jackson’s bodyguard. Now he runs the world’s biggest martial arts brand where he helps men, women and children of all ages improve their physical skills. Here are some of the points he covered:

Personal life and self-care

A true entrepreneur is someone who is always trying to up their game – including outside of work. To take care of your career, you need to be able to take proper care of yourself. While this may only seem relevant to someone with a career like Matt’s, this is important for everyone. You need to be working on your business to the very best of your ability, and you will not be able to keep this up in the long term with a poor diet or not enough sleep or exercise. As Matt himself puts it, there is no point being the richest person in the graveyard!

Self-care also involves maintaining your work-life balance so that you are not neglecting your commitments and relationships outside of work. Too many people make the mistake of putting their career before everything. This is unsustainable because sooner or later, something will go wrong. For Matt, it meant his first marriage ending, something which drastically changed his approach to his career. Your business goals are important, but are they really worth your health and relationships?

Sales, marketing and investment

According to Matt, many business owners focus on money way too much. In doing so, they neglect other aspects of making a sale. One of the most significant of these is marketing. These days marketing is thought to make up around 70% of the sales process. It draws consumers in, it allows them to educate themselves before buying, yet it is still commonly neglected. It is not enough to simply advertise; you need to be regularly and openly engaging with your audience on a variety of platforms – online and offline.

Another problem with hyperfixating on money is this can lead to trying to make and retain as much money as possible. It is true that you need to be careful with money, but rather than simply holding onto as much as you can, you need to be making the right investments. If you can effectively prioritise where your money goes, it will pay off. You also need to make sure your customers are getting good value for money so they won’t be put off when you need to increase your prices. If you focus on creating value, money will come.

Developing your passion

If you are not passionate about what you do, then why are you doing it? You need to be honing your skills and preparing for the future so you are equipped to achieve what matters most to you. To achieve this, you need to be open to learning from other people and working as part of a team. According to Matt, you become who you’re with and what you consume, so choose these wisely. Keep learning from the people around you – not for the sake of comparison but so that you are taking in as much knowledge as possible to help you and your business grow. If you are losing the drive to achieve your goals, then you need to be able to step back and see what needs to change so you feel that drive again. Remember, life it’s not just about making a living, it’s about following your passion, your dreams and achieving great results.

 

Want to hear Matt Fiddes’ story about how he got to where he is now? Watch the full Big Friday Finish episode on YouTube here.