With Sam Duckworth, co-owner of Samien Fitness. A business man, entrepreneur & fitness expert, Sam isn’t afraid of turning a successful venture on its head to keep things fresh and future focused.
“It was hard for me to see how successful my career has been until I shared my story with the Clear Thinking team.
I’ve spent so much time working in my business and never taken much time out to appreciate everything I’ve built. The feedback I got from the team was amazing, the fact that I inspired and motivated others as well as presented myself well was a huge win for me. I have a goal of doing some larger public speaking events in the future and this opportunity has given me the confidence to pursue that. Thank you!”
Spring Break Mini Conference #6
Spring Break is a series of mini conferences held on Zoom. The theme of the conference series is ‘Being dangerous as a force for good’, inspired by something we spoke about on International Women’s Day.
The purpose of each conference is to hear real tales of human endeavour to afford people the time and space to reflect and wonder.
[The full video is available only in our private members club]
‘Fresh ideas” “I really enjoy being part of a shared experience of soaking up a completely different story and perspective from such interesting individuals. It gives me a lift for the week and some fresh ideas about how to tackle things in the future.”
Insights & Appreciation
At the end of each mini conference we show our appreciation and share our freshest thinking; here are the highlights:
“I think I would have to go with the bravery….there were lots of examples where you’ve really stepped out and shown your bravery and put your passion first. …… And I think when you find your passion and you follow your passion [which you’ve demonstrated] it can really pay off and it has for you.”
“I find it inspirational that you speak with humility about yourself and that you continue to learn and become more expert. You don’t seem to be someone who wants to rest on your laurels, and that really reinforces what’s important to me. It’s about continually learning and that growth mindset.”
“I think the thing for me I’ve really taken is a sense of balance. Whether it’s balanced in your relationship with Damien, or balance in the fact that you’re just going to have a pie in a pint occasionally ….I just like the fact that you don’t take it too seriously.”
“Thank you so much, Sam….I just appreciated that sharpness, that intelligence, that just huge passion. So thanks so much.”
“I’ve been absolutely blown away by your approach. I think I might have had a bad experience with personal trainers, who have always in the past seem to be satisfied, disinterested and disengaged with things, but I love the way you’ve got a holistic approach and you’ve got a lot of psychology in there. I love the approach. It’s the mind and the body and the spirit, you’ve looked at all three and you’ve embraced all three….you’ve restored my faith in personal training.”
“I’m just super proud of you, Son. Thank you very much. I don’t think I can say much more.” (Sam’s Mum, Jo, was a regular audience member at Spring Break this event was particularly special because our star guest was her son! A proud Mum moment for sure.)
“I think for me, commitment is the word that springs to mind. It really shines through…… what you have shown is that complete commitment and dedication to what you do.”
“Thanks very much, Sam. I’m highly motivated by your talk….and what I really appreciated was not once during that last hour that you’ve been talking to us, have you mentioned anything negative about the current situation that we’re in, in terms of the pandemic and the potential impact on your business. What I love is your positivity and your motivation to always look forward and not to let bad things drag you down.”
“Let me start with a funny statement, which is, I don’t want to be as committed as you to exercise and fitness. I know that’s okay because that’s what I liked about your approach ….I can tell that you have that empathy with the clients. And I suspect that personal training has the same sort of problem as coaching does; that there are coaches or personal trainers out there who want people to achieve their outcome rather than what’s important to them. …I really liked that it came across that it’s about their outcome and not yours. That you’re taking it step by step and that you are there alongside them, but you’re not forcing them down certain path.”
“What really stood out for me was you following your intuition…really listening to your gut and going with it….and I think coupled with that intuition, and total self-belief, not in a self-absorbed way, but ‘I know we’ve got a great product, we know what we’re doing, I know we’re going over and above’ …….and I think if you are going to follow your intuition, and then you do need belief, you need total self-belief and, and that really stood out for me, so thank you.”
“I wrote down, when things are going well, there’s no need to change things. And yet actually, the theme throughout your talk, Sam was that every time things go while you do change things. That’s why you’re so successful…..that’s my little takeaway… when things are going well think about what’s next.”
“What I really loved about your story was that you’ve faced into all of the risks. You’ve said ‘ Yep, let’s just do this. Let’s move on and be really positive about this’ and that’s what’s made you a huge success.”
“Thank you. It was a really fascinating story and told really eloquently too. Two qualities stood out for me, your enthusiasm and your substance.”
“One of the things that you hear a lot when people are setting up in business and deciding what they want to do, is about their brand. And what I loved about you was that it’s there in everything that you say. ……I think you are one of the most genuine people I’ve listened to speak about their business with completely natural passion for it. I’m sure that this is contributing to your success.”
“I love how you’ve really adapted your content and approach to suit the people you serve.“
“That was brilliant. I’ve written two words down – calm and credible……. I’ve really enjoyed listening to you today and your credibility really does shine through.”
“I’ve loved listening to you, and I think it you’ve sent a really positive message about running a business with effortless wisdom, , and having a really strong service mentality. They were the three things I’ve noticed, that have just leaped out in everything you’ve said.”
“I think your wisdom was the thing that I really picked up on. And I liked the fact that you said ‘change when things are going well’, I think that’s such a good message, which people don’t tend to pick up on. Because, the effort to change is huge and when things are going well, it’s very easy to not even think about that next iteration. But I really feel like you’re going to be changing and iterating and changing and iterating and looking for that next thing as you go forward. So that was such a good thing to hear.”
A final thought from Sam …….
“I think the feedback was fantastic, actually. I’ve always been a bit nervous to go down the public speaking path, and I guess we’re all a little bit afraid of any negative feedback, but the positive stuff that everyone has said, I really appreciate that. Thank you.
It’s probably given me a bit more encouragement to go down that path of the TEDx talk….. so you’re all invited. I’ll let you know when it is.
Thank you for having me.”
Want to get involved?
If you’ve been inspired by Sam’s story please do leave a comment or get in touch with us, we’d love you to hear from you.
To find out more about Samien Fitness, you can visit their website www.samienfitness.com
Or check out their facebook page www.facebook.com/SamienFitness/
At the time of posting this we’ve finished our ninth and final episode in this Spring Break series. There’s now a Spring Break shaped hole in our week. The ‘Back to School’ series (it’s working title) will be hosted in September 2020, and before that, we will be delving a little more into the stories that have been a part of this series.
